Billy Hunter, the head of the NBA players’ union, had commissioner David Stern “livid” and “riled” during an address in L.A. on Feb. 19, the day before the All-Star Game, Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reported in an examination of Hunter and the NBA’s labor situation.

Hunter told an audience of league executives, coaches and players that he considered having the players boycott the All-Star Game as a preemptive move ahead of the June 30 expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. While Hunter didn’t carry through with the idea, Wojnarowski writes the “message to the players was unmistakable: Hunter wouldn’t back down to Stern, and maybe even had the ability to rattle him.”

Hunter’s address seemed to have emboldened the players. It was “probably the best Billy has been around us,” an Eastern Conference All-Star said.

When it was his turn to take the dais, a “livid” Stern told the audience he knows where the “bodies are buried,” sources told Yahoo! Two All-Stars, including the Bulls’ Derrick Rose, said they were shocked by Stern’s language. “I couldn’t believe he said it,” Rose told the website.

Additionally, Stern’s influence over the NBA’s owners may be waning, according to the report. The owners are “younger and brasher and bought into the NBA at far steeper prices,” Wojnarowski writes. “Once, the owners allowed Stern to set the agenda. That isn’t always true anymore.”

“I don’t think he has the sway that he once did,” Hunter said. “I’m not saying that he’s not the commissioner and does not have the power to act. But I don’t know that he has the unfettered, undying support that he had before. There’s maybe a little crack in the dike.”